I am excited to be working on a new TV show, Local Flavor. This half-hour weekly program will show viewers how to find foods grown local to them when fresh in season, and great ways to save them for later when they’re not. Each week I will take viewers to a different farm or producer and find an item in season for that time of year. Then we will go back to the kitchen and show folks how to cook and preserve that week’s item.

The idea for the show arose from my past 15 years experience selling at farmers’ markets, interacting with people from all walks of life, all with one thing in common: Finding clean, fresh, healthy foods for their families, and an appreciation for the better quality of foods grow right nearby. But changes within our culture and homes over the past 40 years have left a number of young homemakers these days lacking in some basic cooking and efficient and creative food preparation skills. My show will teach these cooking skills, demonstrating fun and easy ways to bring delicious meals to their tables, with local foods or any foods, wherever one lives.

Eating foods local to your region means eating seasonally, and to keep an interesting and diverse diet year-round, you want preserve your favorite items when they’re fresh and abundant. Canning, drying and freezing foods was at once a dying art, but thanks to this renewed interest in seasonal eating, people across the country are reviving age-old methods of preserving food. My show will add to this resurgence by demonstrating different methods of “putting food by”.

Over the past 15 years, I have also enjoyed a number media appearances: my local newspaper, TV news, even radio and a TV commercial. I seem to attract the camera, while other people flee from it. So why not make a TV show?

We have begun production on the first episode, set to launch in February. Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/localflavorshow or follow us on Twitter @Localflavorshow to keep up with our progress and catch announcements of where and when to watch.

We will have a viewer question segment on each show, so submit your queries about local, seasonal cooking and preserving. And stay tuned!